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THE INMO’s GENERAL Secretary Phil Ni Sheaghdha has told the Oireachtas Health Committee that, for each of the last two weeks, 50 nurses have been infected with Covid-19 while at work.
Ní Sheaghdha said this represents a “very high figure” and again repeated the union’s call for Covid-19 to be made an occupational illness.
Speaking to TDs and Senators, Ni Sheaghdha said that PPE for nurses has improved since the earlier stages of the pandemic but she remained critical of supports available for nurses who contract the virus.
She said that nurses contracting Covid-19 can mean a “high level” of nurse absenteeism from work and that many are absent for up to four months.
“There is a crisis in the health service because of the high number of healthcare workers who are infected with Covid-19. And of those we know, that is increasing up to 34% are nurses,” Ní Sheaghdha said.
So we have a high level of absence. Many of our members are reporting absences stretching into 16 and 17 weeks, particularly in areas where they have been directly caring for Covid patients.
Ní Sheaghdha said the union is asking that the HSE re-examine policies that mean nurses return to work “even if they have been a close contact”.
“Currently we are critical and we remain critical of the supports available to them when they are infected and also to their protections at work, “ Ní Sheaghdha added.
PPE has improved and the supply of PPE has improved but for the last two weeks 50 nurses each week have been infected at work from Covid-19, and that’s a very high figure.
The general secretary also told the committee that the nursing workforce is 91% female and that, should there be any decision about the closure of schools, “thought must be put into childcare needs”.
“We can’t have what happened earlier in the pandemic in March and April where that was basically left to chance,” she said.
The INMO has about 40,000 members and Ní Sheaghdha was welcoming of plans for additional hospital bed capacity announced in the Budget, adding that the committee remember that “each time you hear the word bed you have to think the word nurse”.
Doctors
The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO), which represents almost 7,000 medical professionals, was also before the committee and Dr Matthew Sadlier said there are too few doctors to meet the demands of Covid and non-Covid care.
“We presently cannot recruit enough doctors and we cannot keep hold of many of the doctors that we do have. We have seen increasing trends of high emigration by doctors for the past number of years and we can say with some degree of certainty that that trend will continue, ” he said.
The IMO’s chief executive Susan Clyne also raised similar concerns: “There are 500 vacant consultant posts leading to growing waiting lists, now at over 840,000, which in turn leads to delayed diagnosis and treatment for patients, which in turn leads to increased mortality. Ireland has the lowest number of specialists per head of population and there is not a single specialty that has the required number actually working in it.”
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Simply put we need to thank these wonderful people by staying at home and wearing masks / making sure that we’re not going to be one of their patients in the future.
@Kevin Conway: These “wonderful people” don’t need you to do that for them, you should be doing that for yourselves. They are also not interested in a round of applause, many find it condescending. What baffles them is why they are paid less and have far smaller pensions than Gardai, teachers, hospital Chaplin’s, in fact practically every other profession out there. There are many other ways to thank them that matter in the real world.
@Kevin Conway: Lovely comment there Kevin, don’t mind Rex, he left his cornflakes unattended for a minute this morning and his cat pissed on them, that’s why he’s in such bad humour. Keep up the positivity Kev we could all do with a bit more of it to be honest.
@Rex Tilson: Clapping is a waste. I want people to take this opportunity during lockdown to wear mask, wash hands, stay home respect all medical staff by not having parties, not meeting up in groups and keeping this crap away from each other. Get behind our medical staff and government. No one wants this to continue. Knocking anyone in government isn’t helping. and Yes of course, They’re not paid enough.
@Rex Tilson: that’s not true. Their starting salary is 30,000 – that’s higher than teachers. And the pay scale goes a lot higher than a teacher’s. Into 70k a year
@Lorraine Mac Rory: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.thejournal.ie/teachers-starting-salary-2982825-Sep2016/%3Famp%3D1&ved=2ahUKEwjpibWhj8bsAhVNUhoKHfIDDLAQFjAJegQICxAB&usg=AOvVaw3L8lxZSJz_UNAhUIRBssjl&cf=1
In 2016 the journal reported starting salary for a teacher was 31800, I’m sure its gone up since then. According to dept of education website year 1 salary is 35790 rising to 65500 after 25 years regardless of promotion. A nurse hits the top of the payscale at about 47000.
@Lorraine Mac Rory: I’m not a nurse but I don’t think your figures are correct.
@Lorraine Mac Rory: Really nurses should get raises when due, but like all civil servant jobs the ones at the top get their pay raises straight away & the lower paid have to wait, then when it is time to give them the pay raise the HSE move the goal posts. On saying that, the cleaners, care workers etc, deserve to be paid a proper wage also. They are now doing the crap work the nurses used to do years ago & nurses back then got paid very well. Also, keeping the schools open & putting Teachers & their families at risk so key workers can continue working is very unfair.
@Lorraine Mac Rory: starting salary only increased this year after 3 days out on the streets. The average nurses pay us not higher than a teacher. Our management grades are seriously lagging behind teachers and other allied health professionals. Don’t start me on the annual leave either.
They need to be paid more money
@Tony Ember: Aye they do!
@Tony Ember: Will that stop them getting Covid19 or increase the number of beds or ventilators available ?
Maybe if they wore the PPE, there was an article a couple of months back that said 85% of healthcare workers at James St were not wearing face coverings.
At Holles St last month I would say the 90% of staff in the corridors not wearing masks. They’re not only putting themselves at risk but also vulnerable patients at risk too.
There are more than nurses working in hospitals lest people forget. Others are equally and if more often exposed without their unions needing to grandstand. Making capital from members conditions is really low.
@Paul Murphy: Nurses represent a minority of staff within the Health Service and, while they’re at risk from Covid-19, so too are everyone else. From cleaners to surgeons. It’s worth asking if they’re being treated differently than their other colleagues, the answer is no, they aren’t. But they want to be.
What’s the Inmo going to do nothing
@Fran O’Keeffe:
That’s not fair, the INMO will all stand up and give the nurses a clap.
That should sort it.
(I wish the nurses a full and speedy recovery and want to say Thanks.)
@Michael Clinton: brill
Genuine question. Assuming they fully recover “many” of them requiring 16-17 weeks to go back to work sounds extreme. Is that an average recovery time for a positive case?
@GrumpyAulFella: Yes, it is absolutely necessary, to ensure their health & to make sure they don’t spread the virus to other types of patients.
Nobody deserves to have to risk their health and lives for doing a job. We owe these people tremendously.
@Seriousnojoke: It kind of comes with the territory though, doesn’t it.
We are overdue a discussion around introducing Povidone iodine nasal spray and gargles as extra protection for nurses. If we wait for the perfect RCT to confirm that a cheap, effective and safe option was worth a try it will be too late.
@Justin O’Sullivan: I’ve tried researching this however can’t seem to find a genuine trial that’s taken place, there was one planned last July, it doesn’t seem to have progressed beyond that.
Do you have any links to trials that have taken place with regard to this and Covid-19?
@Justin O’Sullivan: Vitamin D also
The hospitals needs to close down now due to the outbreak
They forget about the people who do the work the carers
They are wonderful people, wish them all well.
And proper remuneration,pensions & psychological supports.
Society needs to rebalance reward for commitment, dedication, risk, from the hierarchical structures we adopted from elsewhere.
These front line people, from janitorials, to nurses,ward aides,doctors, need to have the income status that we have allowed to echelons of desk jockeys, lots of whom
have gone offside for self care.
Perhaps we should have a state of emergency to force absent sections of the public services to stay in line.
Armies have field justice in war conditions for anyone deserting their posts, so shape up.
have your say